Dirk Benedict (birth name: Dirk Niewoehner) was born on March 1st 1945 in Helena, Montana. He was the son of Pricilla Mella (née Metzger), an accountant, and George Edward Niewoehner, a lawyer. Dirk grew up in White Sulphur Springs, Montana and graduated from Whitman College in 1967. Benedict allegedly chose his stage name from a serving of Eggs Benedict he had enjoyed prior to his acting career.
Benedict’s film debut was in the 1972 film Georgia, Georgia. When the New York run for Butterflies Are Free ended, he received an offer to repeat his performance in Hawaii, opposite Barbara Rush. While there, he appeared as a guest lead on Hawaii Five-O.
The producers of a horror film called Sssssss saw Benedict’s performance in Hawaii Five-O and promptly cast him as the lead in that movie. He next played the psychotic wife-beating husband of Twiggy in her American film debut, W. Benedict starred in the television series Chopper One which aired for one season in 1974. He also made an appearance in Charlie’s Angels.
Benedict’s career break came in 1978 when he appeared as Lieutenant Starbuck in the movie and television series Battlestar Galactica.
In 1979, Benedict starred in the ensemble movie Scavenger Hunt before reprising his Starbuck role for an episode in Galactica’80.
In 1981, Benedict starred alongside Linda Blair in Ruckus, then in 1982, Dirk gained further popularity as con-man Lieutenant Templeton “Face” Peck in 1980s action television series, The A-Team. He played “Faceman” from 1982 to 1986, although the series didn’t air until January 1983, and the final episode wasn’t shown until 1987.
The A-Team‘s second season episode Steel was filmed at Universal Studios and includes the now classic scene where Face is seen looking bemused as a Cylon walks by him as an in-joke to his previous role in Battlestar Galactica. The clip is incorporated into the series’ opening credit sequence from the third season onward.
In 1986, Benedict starred as a low-life band manager Harry Smilac in the movie Body Slam along with Lou Albano, Roddy Piper, and cameo appearances by Freddie Blassie, Ric Flair, and Bruno Sammartino. His character Smilac ends up managing the pro-wrestler “Quick” Rick Roberts (Piper) and faces opposition by Captain Lou and his wrestling tag-team “The Cannibals”.
In 1987, Benedict took the title role of Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Abbey Theatre, he then starred in the 1989 TV movie Trenchcoat in Paradise.
In 1991, Benedict starred in Blue Tornado, playing Alex, call sign Fireball, an Italian air force fighter pilot. Benedict published an autobiography, Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy: A True Story of Discovery, Acting, Health, Illness, Recovery, and Life. In 1993, Benedict starred in Shadow Force. Benedict also appeared as Jake Barnes in the 1996 action-adventure film Alaska.
In 2006, he wrote an online essay criticizing the then-airing Battlestar Galactica re-imagined series, and especially its casting of a woman as his character, Starbuck, writing that “the war against masculinity has been won” and that “a television show based on hope, spiritual faith, and family is unimagined and regurgitated as a show of despair, sexual violence and family dysfunction”.
He appeared as a contestant on the 2007 U.K. series of Celebrity Big Brother. He arrived on launch night in a replica of the A-Team van, smoking a cigar and accompanied by Post & Carpenter’s A-Team theme tune.
In 2010, Benedict starred in Prescription: Murder playing Lieutenant Columbo along with Patrick Ryecart and George Telfer. Benedict also made a cameo appearance in the 2010 film adaptation of The A-Team as Pensacola Prisoner Milt.
Whether it be Lt. Starbuck or Face, Benedict won the hearts of a generation and continues to fill the Heroes of Cult lounge full of cigar smoke!
Ogun Bat is a Japanese superhero created by Takeo Nagamatsu in 1931 and is considered to be the first Japanese superhero. The anime ran 52 episodes between April 1st 1967 and March 23rd Read more
Released in December 1980, Zork: The Great Underground Empire - Part I aka Zork I was an interactive fiction video game written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Read more
Zoolander is back but a lot has happened since 2001! Rest assured the Ben Stiller comedy features familiar faces and a few new ones with plenty to get you excited. Read more
At a dinner party with their wives, NASA scientist Dr. Keith Ritchie (Tony Huston) reveals to his colleague Dr. Curt Taylor (John Agar) that he has secretly been in communication Read more
In Italy during World War II, an American military patrol discovers a spaceship that has crash-landed in the woods, along with its alien crew. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm9fnNfLg8M A nearby Nazi unit also Read more
Zone Fighter was a tokusatsu science fiction/superhero television series produced by Toho Company Ltd. It aired from April 2nd 1973 to September 24th 1973, with a total of 26 episodes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdhcjsVLDQY The series follows Read more
When the government's latest crime deterrent, obmoz, goes completely off the rails and starts to destroy everything from the underfunded super team Planetronix to the president himself, who ya gonna Read more
Tony Todd is back in an all new zombie movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBlWz-n-nec When the world is in shambles, plagued by a zombie outbreak, only the strong will survive, but just how Read more
Directed by Chris Watson and distributed by Troma Entertainment, Zombiegeddon begins as Satan creates a human-like race called zombies. When the zombies begin taking over the world, dirty cops Jeff Read more
Zombie Hotel ran for twenty-six episodes in 2006 and focuses on Fungus and Maggot - two child zombies who pretend to be human to get into their local school. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzXhCDspKxU Read more
After surviving the 'Multipocalypse', Ben tries to live a normal life, hiding the fact that he is infected with a zombie plague. His new friends have just found out ... Read more
A dutiful Samurai, a madcap Ninja and a bizarro Zen Monk team up to battle the undead in Feudal Japan. Can these unlikely allies stay friends long enough to stop Read more
Based on Marilyn Sadler and Roger Bollen's book of the same name, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century was directed by Kenneth Johnson and set in the year 2049. It Read more
Arriving in 2010, Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City was the sequel for 2004's Zebraman, and starred Show Aikawa once again as Shinichi Ichikawa/Zebraman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqnYJugzaiU As the film opens it Read more
Directed by Takashi Miike, Zebraman follows Shinichi Ichikawa (Shô Aikawa), a man whose life is unravelling before his eyes. At work he is a failing school teacher and at home he Read more
Ryan Reynolds announced via Twitter that Zazie Beets (Atlanta) will play Domino in the upcoming Deadpool sequel: https://twitter.com/VancityReynolds/status/839947701487796224 Deadpool 2 will be directed by David Leitch (John Wick), with original Deadpool scripters Rhett Reese Read more
Zardoz, often referred to as "the one where James Bond is in his pants," is set in a future post-apocalypse Earth in the year 2293. By this point in history Read more
Zapped is a British sci-fi/fantasy sitcom that takes place in both in the real world and in a town called Munty which exists in a medieval fantasy world. The series Read more
A prequel set in the world of Syfy's #1 scripted hit zombie series Z Nation, Black Summer is as bad as the apocalypse gets. A worldwide drought and famine when Read more
Brett Summers
Founded Cult Faction in 2014. Some would describe him as a teacher, writer, dream weaver, and visionary... some would not...
1 thought on “Dirk Benedict”